Q: Sometimes it doesn’t feel like you remember what it was like to be a teenager.  Is it really that different now?

Mom: Wow, I think sometimes we’re so busy trying to protect you that we do forget what it felt like to be your age. But mostly we remember! In some ways everything is different now. Technology, the internet, social media. Increased crime, predators, gangs. In today’s world, it simply isn’t safe to allow you the same freedoms that we had when we were kids. On the other hand, some things never change, and we remember all too well the feelings and struggles of adolescence. Teens always have and always will feel insecure, fall in love, and struggle for independence.  I think the more open and honest you are with us about your feelings and experiences, the more we can share with you what helped us cope or what we wish we would have known to do at the time!